India were bowled out for 109 and 163 across the two innings in Indore.
On a pitch that offered sharp turn, India were bowled out for 109 and 163 across the two innings and eventually lost the match by nine wickets inside three days.
“Batters actually didn’t do justice to their talent. If you look at the Indian wickets, you will find it is the Indian batters who got themselves out, playing some shots anticipating that this is what the pitch is going to do,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“If you look there is lack of confidence because in the first two matches, they did not get runs, apart from Rohit Sharma, who got a lovely hundred in Nagpur. When you are short of runs, there is just that little tentativeness in their batting. And you can sense that they were feeling for the deliveries.
“They were not able to go down the pitch as much as they should have. They let the pitch overtake them. It was the pitch that actually started to play on their minds, even in the first innings but more so in the second innings,” he added.
India still lead the four-match series 2-1 with one Test to go in Ahmedabad, which the hosts will need to win to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Gavaskar said India were 60-70 runs short in the first innings, after opting to bat first.
“The pitch started to talk in the first hour itself, so it wasn’t going to be easy but still if we had made 160-170 in the first innings that could have made the difference,” the batting great said.
Marnus Labuschagne was given two lives — on 0 and 8 — in Australia’s first innings in Indore. The batter played on to a Ravindra Jadeja ‘no ball’, before India didn’t opt to take a review.
Asked about the no ball, Gavaskar said: “If you look back, you will say that is probably what cost India the match because after that they (Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja) stitched a partnership of 96 when India were dismissed for 109.
“So I think that was probably the turning point. That no ball cost India the match.”
The fourth Test is slated to get underway on March 9.